Vie’s Verses – 25 Years Of Hysteria

I know that I often make statements like this, but it’s hard to believe that Def Leppard’s magnificent album, Hysteria, is officially 25 years old. Maybe I have trouble believing things like this because it is a constant reminder of how old I am getting. Poison’s been around for 26 years? Kiss announced their reunion tour 16 years ago? It’s been how many years since Iron Maiden reunited with Bruce Dickinson (12, for the record)? Sadly, I remember all of those things happening. I also remember being extremely excited when they did.

Def Leppard’s Hysteria brought a similar feeling of excitement. In 1983 I was a hair too young to really jump on the Def Leppard band wagon and shout out my love for the band. However, when Hysteria was released in 1987, I was a freshman in High School and I was all in. At that point in my life, I had started consuming hard rock and heavy metal in abundance. Of course, the biggest flavor of the time was hair metal, and I listened to any band that even came close to representing the genre. Many people would argue that Def Leppard isn’t really a hair metal band, but they often get lumped into the category. And in 1987, we didn’t even call them hair bands we just called them rock and roll.

Given all that was happening with the band during this time period, it’s amazing that Hysteria was ever recorded, let alone released. Between the pressure to create a follow up record that was better than Pyromania, having a producer walk away (only to return a year later), and Rick Allen losing an arm, many people thought that Def Leppard was finished as a band. But they persevered and released an amazing record. And no one could imagine the amount of units Hysteria would sell, nor the popularity that the record would have.

Hysteria is packed with hits. From “Women” to “Animal” to “Pour Some Sugar On Me,” every song on this record is fantastic. Yes, 25 years later, “Pour Some Sugar On Me,” is insanely overplayed and has morphed into a song where you roll your eyes and say “Ugh! Again?”, but in 1987, this song was nothing short of monumental. The entire Hysteria album was. I can remember the first time I played the cassette tape. After hearing “Animal” and “Women” and listening to all my friends rave about the record, I knew that I had to have it. So, I saved up my allowance (I was a few months shy of working regularly) and bought myself a copy. After one listen, I was hooked. I could not stop playing Hysteria. I must have listened to that album nonstop for close to a month.

“Armageddon it,” “Rocket,” “Love And Affection,” and my personal favorite “Hysteria,” were all musical bliss to my eardrums. Every note on the album was production perfect. Joe Elliot’s voice sounded like an angel, and the guitar work of Steve Clark and Phil Collen was incredible. On top of all that, Rick Allen’s drum work defied logic. Here was a drummer that lost an arm and with the help of his band, found a way to come back and play the drums for Def Leppard’s best album ever. He was an inspiration to us all. Def Leppard did not cut corners with the drumming either, as some of the songs on Hysteria have complex drum beats, all played by Rick Allen.

When I review the vast musical collection that I have built over the years (2200 albums and counting), I can easily rank Hysteria in the top 25 albums of my collection. It is a perfect album, recorded during a tumultuous time for the band, and Def Leppard came out on top. Hysteria topped the charts worldwide and would go on to sell 12 million copies in the US, one of the highest selling rock albums ever for the States. If ever there was an album deserving of an anniversary edition, Hysteria is it. And while I haven’t heard of any plans for that to happen, a box set including the remastered album, all the B-sides, and live recordings from this tour, would be a welcome gift to me. What about you? What are your thoughts on Hysteria turning 25 years old? Is it one of your favorite albums too, or do you find it to be an overrated, overproduced, overhyped disc?

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Ryo, I think your post, and the comments so far tell an interesting story about how the album was perceived by slightly
different age groups. Those who were just starting high school, or close to it, hold Hysteria in much higher regard than
people who are even just a few years older. I am in the latter category as I was about to start college when Hysteria came
out in august ’87. I had been following Def Lep since 1980 when On through The Night came out. that was a decent record, but
then High and dry blew me away when it came out. Pyromania required a lot of adjustment for me to like. It was very slickly
produced and the songs didn’t have that gritty edge that was so prominent on High and dry. I did eventually grow to like
Pyromania, I think mostly because it was inescapable at my high school.

Now, flash forward to the Summer of ’87. I was at Dorney Park in Allentown PA. At the time, the big pop station, Laser 104
had some sort of partnership with Dorney to the point that one of the rollercoasters was renamed the Laser, and the radio
station was played all over the park through a bunch of speakers. So, the fast-talking top 40 DJ said that he is now going to
play the brand new single from Def Leppard called Women. this in and of itself was a tough pill to swallow because I
remembered when Def Leppard was only played on rock stations, and now there they were, the darlings of top 40 radio which
encompassed everything I despised at the time.

Women sounded so lackluster, so over-produced, and so poppy that I knew Def Leppard had completely gone over to the dark
side. Pour some Sugar On Me, Animal, and their ilk did little to change my opinion of Hysteria. Also, although I’m sure Hysteria was ubiquitously cranked in high schools everywhere, I don’t remember it getting much play at college.

As with many things, 25 additional years of age and life experience have softened my stance on Hysteria. I still think their
first two albums are infinitely better, and Pyromania is quite a bit better. However, I now realize that pop music has its
place in society just as much as any other style, and Hysteria is certainly in the upper echelon in terms of quality within
the pop world. I still don’t find myself listening to it, or even craving to listen to it. However, I at least now understand why it meant so much to so many people and, if Hysteria made that many people happy to the point where they still revere it 25 years later, that alone gives it tremendous merit whether I listen to it or not.

Hysteria is also one of my favorite albums. I was also a Freshman in 1987, and the music from that point in my life is the magic I still listen to the most, even today. Although there is no anniversary edition, the deluxe edition released a couple of years ago is phenomenal. B-sides, live cuts, etc. I highly recommend picking it up. Now if they would release a deluxe edition of High ‘N Dry and On Through the Night.

I was in eighth grade (final year of JHS) when Def Leppard’s “Pyromania” was released. My friends and I were crazy about that album back then.

So when “Hysteria” was released (when I was in twelfth grade (final year of high school)), I was really looking forward to it…but after finally hearing it, I was kinda disappointed by it’s “pop” sound.

I didn’t listen to it much.

I did see Def Leppard in concert that year on the “Hysteria” tour. As you said, it was amazing how Rick Allen could play the drums after having recently (at the time) lost his arm!

Much more than “Hysteria”, the album of 1987 that most impressed me was Queensryche “Operation: Mindcrime”!
I don’t normally care for concept albums…but I listened to that album so much that I wore out my first copy of it!

I first heard Def Lep broadcast on an overnight show before On Through The Night was released. I bought that, then High N Dry. Definitely more of a raw RnR sound. When I first heard Pyro, I felt the producer made them sound way too much like AC/DC. I sold the album. After hearing the songs everywhere, I grew to like it and bought the cassette. I did feel that they were overproduced at that point. It grew on me. I heard Hysteria and thought it was pretty good, but again, a little overproduced for my liking. No doubt though that it was terrific, given what was goin on with them at the time. The production made it more acceptable for the masses, I felt. In the long run, it was a strategy that worked. If they kept with the same sound, they wouldn’t have the stature they enjoy now.